


Toothache

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, blood mention, rescued and revised from Ye olde fanfiction.net, somewhat graphic descriptions of dentistry in action
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23322223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: Laurie takes Jo home after she gets a tooth pulled.
Relationships: Theodore Laurence/Josephine March
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Toothache

Jo sat in the chair of the dentist's office, watching nervously as he rummaged through his drawer for the correct tools. The man was a jack-of-all-trades and as such he had a vast assortment of scissors, blades, combs, pliers and picks, intended to cut hair and shave beards as well as taking care of whatever was wrong with Jo's tooth.

Jo did not want Marmee to fund this venture. It seemed to her that this confounded toothache of hers had come about at the worst possible time, with father far away at war, and money tight as it was. Jo had successfully ignored it for a good five weeks, but it was beginning to keep her up at night, and certainly it had a bad effect on her already formidable temper. Thus she'd struck upon the sudden inspiration that she would put an end to it on her own, and with her own money from working for Aunt March.

"Don't you want somebody here to tend you after, miss?" asked the dentist.

"My home's close by. I can make it there myself," said Jo, with forced confidence.

"Are you quite sure?"

"Just do it."

The man shrugged. Money was money, after all.

Jo had seen such operations performed before, and knew that they could be done very quickly. Jo's tooth, it seemed, had other ideas, and it was only after quite a bit of yanking that it consented to come out. The sound of her hard tooth cracking free of her jaw rang in her ears. Immediately she covered her mouth with her hands and shut her eyes, for the fierce, throbbing pain was enough to make her feel nauseous. The dentist did not make her stand for several minutes, and then did so only reluctantly, as his next patient was intent on beating down the door if he did not send Jo away in short order.

There were several seats in the hallway outside, because the building had rooms for many purposes ranging to fencing to billiards, and it was not unusual for people to sit down and wait for their lesson or appointment to begin. Jo sank down into one of those chairs without even a glance around her, and seeing that there was blood on her hand, began to search for her handkerchief.

Then suddenly somebody else was there, pressing a fresh handkerchief in her hand.

"Jo?"

Jo looked up to see Laurie leaning over her, and straightened at once, thinking it was just her luck that she'd run into somebody on one of the rare occasions when she was trying to move in secret.

"Looks like you had a bad time of it in there," said Laurie, his voice so comically solicitous that it made poor Jo feel quite humiliated.

"Having a worse time of it out here," Jo mumbled. She instantly regretted it, for he it seemed the sharpness of her words had cut her friend. She thought she should explain that she hadn't meant the insult, but all she could manage was a sort of groan.

"Press the handkerchief to your face now, or you'll get blood on your collar," Laurie said. "Are you ready for me to walk you home?"

"Just wait a bit," said Jo, who was finding it desperately hard to get her bearings just then. She did not wait for him to answers, but leaned over with her head in her hands, aware of what a pitiful picture she must make, but unable to do anything about it.

Then Jo felt Laurie touch her back, lightly at first, as if waiting for her to push him away. They sat like that for what must have been several minutes, his hand moving in the same firm circles that Jo imagined her mother's would, had she been smart and asked her to come along.

"Come on," Laurie said finally, pulling her to the feet, and wrapping his arm around her waist to keep her steady.

"It's my mouth. Nothing to do with walking," Jo pointed out, but she ruined her point rather effectively by putting her arm around his shoulders, because she _was_ feeling dizzy, no matter how much she didn't want to be.

"Knowing you, you would get home on your own, if I left you to it."

Jo did not argue or say anything for the rest of the walk home, thinking that speaking was more discomfort than it was worth. Laurie did not for one moment loosen his hold on her. 

Laurie came to check on her the next day, and though he had to bite his lip to keep from smiling at Jo's cheek, which had swollen up like that of a greedy chipmunk, he managed to maintain due solemnity.

"Oh, it's fine to laugh at it. It does look rather funny," Jo said as dismissively as she could. "Go on then."

To her surprise Laurie didn't laugh, but instead touched her cheek very gently, which made Jo turn redder than any laughter on his part could have. She wondered what should put him in such a mood, when usually he enjoyed teasing her and plaguing her as much as she did him.

"You know," he said, "I don't know what possessed you to go and get a tooth pulled by yourself yesterday, but…"

"I don't know what possessed me either.”

"But," Laurie continued, "If you ever…well, if you ever need somebody, you can ask me. I -"

"Don't worry," Jo interrupted, not wanting Laurie to go on with such strange tenderness. "I'm not about to get myself into such a scrape again." She nodded as enthusiastically as she could, the pain in her mouth the only thing keeping her from babbling on until she found some suitable joke in the situation.

Laurie just nodded. He never mentioned their trip home from the dentist to Jo again, and she certainly never brought it up. When dark times came, however, neither of them could forget Laurie's promise to Jo, and though Jo never put it into words as Laurie had, she resolved to be there for him as well.


End file.
